<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">PHOENIX ? This is why the Clippers acquired Sam Cassell, who loves these spotlight moments. The Clippers face the Phoenix Suns tonight in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals at US Airways Center, and the veteran point guard is in a familiar position. Cassell said he's determined to help the Clippers take another significant step. "We're not going to panic, I know that," Cassell said. "We've just got to relax, go out there and do what we need to do on defense and play our game. I know what my job is for this basketball team, and you better believe I'm going to do it." His teams are 5-1 in previous Game 7s in which he has played. Cassell, among the NBA's top clutch shooters, has averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 assists in the decisive games, shooting 50.9% from the field and 97.2% from the free-throw line. "Since I was a rookie, I was groomed to play in big games and make shots down the stretch," Cassell said. "I don't mind being a goat. If I miss it, you guys [reporters] can write what you want about me. "A lot of guys don't like these games. A lot of guys don't like these situations. For me, it doesn't get any better. This is where you want to be."</div> Source
Cassell's leadership will be a plus, but he also needs to be smart and get the ball to Elton Brand as much as possible. Contrary to what he might think, Brand is by far the Clipper's best player, and he presents the biggest mismatch. I hope Dunleavy learns from the past few games and plays Ross and Maggette in favor of Livingston and Mobley. As a tandem, they provide much more on both ends. I think he should stick with Radmonivic instead of Kaman for most of the game as well.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">Cassell's leadership will be a plus, but he also needs to be smart and get the ball to Elton Brand as much as possible. Contrary to what he might think, Brand is by far the Clipper's best player, and he presents the biggest mismatch. I hope Dunleavy learns from the past few games and plays Ross and Maggette in favor of Livingston and Mobley. As a tandem, they provide much more on both ends. I think he should stick with Radmonivic instead of Kaman for most of the game as well.</div> Very true, but also Sam's got to be allowed to play his game a bit as well. I think if you sit Brand in the post for a full 48, then that allows PHX to overload on him. If you really take a look at the games that the Clips won, they did a better job of mixing things up, pick & roll and also establishing other guys, earlier in the game. Sam being one of those. When you have Cassell, Maggette etc being aggressive from the start, it willl free up Brand to work the boards on the offensive end. And I think Brand and Kaman's ablity to work the boards on the offensive end is the true key to the Clippers being able to win. But when you sit Brand in the post all game along it leads to less of an edge on the boards in my opinion because Brand doesnt post up 5 or 10 feet from the basket, he post up more like 12 or 15 feet, so it takes him out of postion for the offensive rebounds. So yeah, you have to go to brand, but I think you keep him moving around and involving him and Sammy in alot of two man game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">Very true, but also Sam's got to be allowed to play his game a bit as well. I think if you sit Brand in the post for a full 48, then that allows PHX to overload on him. If you really take a look at the games that the Clips won, they did a better job of mixing things up, pick & roll and also establishing other guys, earlier in the game. Sam being one of those. When you have Cassell, Maggette etc being aggressive from the start, it willl free up Brand to work the boards on the offensive end. And I think Brand and Kaman's ablity to work the boards on the offensive end is the true key to the Clippers being able to win. But when you sit Brand in the post all game along it leads to less of an edge on the boards in my opinion because Brand doesnt post up 5 or 10 feet from the basket, he post up more like 12 or 15 feet, so it takes him out of postion for the offensive rebounds. So yeah, you have to go to brand, but I think you keep him moving around and involving him and Sammy in alot of two man game.</div> I think you were absolutely spot on with most of that. Two things I think no one counted on were the fact that Boris Diaw absolutely owned the boards with Kaman on the bench, so while Maggette and Brand and to a lesser extent Cassell were all aggressive early and more than a little, Diaw stole a lot of boards from Brand. Marion contributed too, but the bigger surprise was Diaw taking the center role very seriously. Aside from that, everyone's right, Brand is the team's best player, but just like you said, other players needed to get involved and that just never happened. The biggest issue was Mobley's hesitation to get into the offense at all. He just sat back for most of the game. Mind you, his presence probably would have been more harm than good for any longer than he did play, but contributing would have been a big deal at an early stage. With Mobley effectively inert, the offense stagnated, and the defense showed no more promise than that, probably appreciably less.
